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County to seek proposals for website redesign

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During a briefing before the Luzerne County Council's newly formed Administrative Committee on Tuesday night, county Manager Robert Lawton said the county is seeking a new, more user-friendly look for its website and is planning to put out a request for proposals for a full redesign.

"The more presence we have on the web, the more people we can serve at their convenience," Lawton said, noting the county began dog licensing transactions on the Internet last year. "We've all seen some of the shortcomings of the graphics, of the way the website works, and I think it behooves us to start fresh."

Lawton said the county will never close down face-to-face operations and will always accept transactions by mail, but that it is seeking to increase its "e-commerce" capabilities.

As a result, the county needs to create an online experience that is more intuitive, with easy-to-find contacts and information, he said.

The county is also switching to voice over Internet Protocol telephone service, which will allow voicemail to be integrated with email, he said. Revamping the website will also create an opportunity to create uniform county email addresses, making employees easier to contact, he said.

A new website could also open opportunities for generating revenue from other areas, such as selling property maps online, he said.

"If there's a way to increase revenue while increasing convenience, I think that would be prudent," Lawton said.

Lawton also reported Tuesday that the Division of Judicial Services and Records has entered a contract for back-scanning deeds, marriage license and naturalization records to create digital records.

The project will eliminate the need for users to wait in line to pay for copies of the records and will save the county $150,000 in scanning costs, he said.

Roads, bridges

In other business, Lawton reported that the Road and Bridge Office is working on a prioritized list of county-owned roads and bridges that are in disrepair. By using the list to improve the worst infrastructure, the county can make repairs and transfer ownership to local municipalities, which are in better positions to get transportation funding for their upkeep, he said.

"We're really going to have a hard time convincing localities to take anything that isn't up to code and in perfect condition," Lawton said. "If we can hand off the ones we've done, that's great."

Committees

The session Tuesday night was the first meeting of four newly formed council committees. All consist of the same council members: Jim Bobeck, Tim McGinley, Stephen A. Urban, Stephen J. Urban and Rick Williams.

Each of the four committees held individual back-to-back meetings in which they voted on leadership. In unanimous votes, the members elected:

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